


Panic and Distraction

by amethystcarnelian



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: ?? i suppose this counts as that, Episode: s06e25 Timescape, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, i've never written a fic before but i tried, this is pretty short but it's still longer than i expected it to be
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-14
Updated: 2019-11-14
Packaged: 2021-01-30 17:49:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21432253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amethystcarnelian/pseuds/amethystcarnelian
Summary: "He's in there, Data. It was very lucky that things happened the way they did or I might not have been able to save him. He was almost dead from the shock when he was beamed aboard."Geordi is mostly recovered from his neural shock, but Data has not yet recovered from the events that occurred immediately after Geordi collapsed.
Relationships: Data/Geordi La Forge
Comments: 6
Kudos: 109





	Panic and Distraction

"He's in there, Data. It was very lucky that things happened the way they did or I might not have been able to save him. He was almost dead from the shock when he was beamed aboard," Dr Crusher looked grim for a moment. She shook her head and looked up at Data with a firm smile, "I assure you he's doing just fine now. He should be fit to go back to work soon but I'll make sure he gets at least a day off duty to fully recover."

"Thank you for saving Geordi, doctor."

Beverly shook her head slightly "I sorted him out medically, of course, but it was Deanna's fast thinking to move him to the slowed time stream and your work to prevent the warp core breach that did most of the work in saving Geordi's life today. I wouldn't have been able to save him if you hadn't gotten him to me alive on an unexploded ship in the first place."

"I still am very grateful for your work, doctor."

"Well you're very welcome Data, I'm not sure what any of us would do without our chief engineer."

Data made a small noise of agreement and filed the idea of what his life would become without Geordi in it away to be examined later. He did not much enjoy the concept of focusing on it, particularly at the present moment.

"Like I told you Data, he's doing just fine now, I promise. Go on in and see for yourself, I'll leave you two alone for a bit." Beverly gave Data a reassuring pat on the shoulder before walking away to tend to her other patients.

Geordi was recovering in a small room off to the side from the main sick bay. When Data walked in he was sitting up on his biobed, seeming to be dealing well with the aftermath of the neural shock. When he heard the doors open his face brightened with a wide smile. Data quickly walked over to sit beside him.  
"Hey there," Geordi reached out to take Data's hand.

"Hello Geordi. How are you?"

"I'm feeling pretty alright, just got a bit of a headache now. Dr Crusher’s a miracle worker as always. Thanks for stopping the ship from blowing up and sorting out time itself," Geordi said with a chuckle.

"It was not time as a whole that required 'sorting out', instead it was the localised temporal anomalies generated by an alien being."

"I mean, sure, it wasn't all of time itself but it was some of time so that's still a pretty big deal."

"Hmm,” Data pondered on the fixing of the temporal anomalies briefly (2.3 seconds to be exact), before concluding that Geordi would probably want to think about something other than the events that nearly led to his death earlier that day, “I believe that Spot has been missing you."

"What, really?" Geordi laughed in disbelief "Spot misses me? Are you sure that you're not misinterpreting her missing you?"

"While I can never truly be certain of what Spot is thinking or feeling she has been routinely sitting near the toy you favour when you play with her, and she has seemed unusually agitated even when I am present. In my research of cat behaviour those are identified as signs that a cat is missing someone."

"Huh. I guess I'll have to give her extra chin scritches when the doctor lets me out of here." 

The slight tremble had started off as imperceptible, at least to a human nervous system, but as Geordi continued to hold Data's hand in his, the slight trembling had increased to a degree that it was undeniable. Data was shaking. 

"Data?"

"Yes, Geordi?"

"Data what's wrong?" Geordi gave Data's hand a gentle squeeze to convey what about Data's behaviour was troubling him.

Data stayed silent for a moment, yellow eyes going slightly vacant as he ran an internal diagnostic.

“As far as I am able to discern, I am not experiencing any malfunction. However, I cannot seem to stop myself from shaking,” Data looked down at himself, bewildered by the vibrations of his own hands.

“Okay, I’m just throwing this out there, but maybe the problem isn’t a physical one,” Geordi gave Data a meaningful look. Data stared back blankly, not understanding Geordi’s meaning.

“When humans shake it can be from the cold or something like but it can also be because of extreme emotions, usually something like fear. And I know you don’t experience human emotions but maybe this is something similar. Do you think something is scaring you, Data? And I don’t necessarily mean a current threat, but anything that particularly unpleasant that you’re thinking about.”

"I-" Data looked away from Geordi, keeping his eyes firmly on his shaking hands, before continuing, "Today, I found myself unsure that I would be able to prevent the warp core from breaching without you. While I am skilled in engineering I do not have the level of expertise that you do. And if I had failed both ships would have been destroyed. We would have been unable to save you. I failed to react appropriately to your going into neural shock aboard the Romulan ship, if it were not for Counsellor Troi you would have died. And my failure would have been the cause of your death." 

"Hey, Data, look at me. I'm okay," Geordi reached out, putting the hand not holding Data's beneath Data's chin, tilting his head back up towards him, "The Enterprise and the crews of both ships are okay. It's not all that surprising that you panicked, really, it was actually very human of you," Geordi smiled reassuringly.

"I think that panic is an experience I would be more functional without," Data again averted his eyes but did not move away from Geordi. Panic, despite being an emotional term, seemed an accurate way to describe how he had been unable to think logically for what he believed to be the first time in his life as Geordi fell to the floor. He and Counsellor Troi had rushed forwards to Geordi's side. While Troi examined Geordi, coming quickly to a decision on how best to try to save Geordi's life, Data had almost worsened Geordi's situation by trying to bring Geordi back to the shuttle. 

He had almost failed Geordi. 

He would have to make sure to convey to the counsellor how thankful he was for her quick thinking and control over the situation.

"Data, for someone who's brain goes at a thousand miles a minute you sure choose some inopportune times to stop thinking," Geordi paused briefly to cringe at his word choice "Sorry, uh, what I'm trying to say is it's not unusual to panic, not in a situation like that, and it's just another emotion, you can't pick or choose your feelings, even if some of them are unpleasant. I panic sometimes, when you're hurt, or when another one of our friends is in a lot of danger, or when the ship's about to blow up again. I'm sure I would have panicked if it had been you who had gone down, because I care about you. I'm not sure how well I'm getting my point across but I guess what I'm trying to say here is that you panicking might not have been exactly convenient, but it's a sign of how much you care for me."

"You listed 'when the ship is about to blow up again' amongst the things that make you panic, but in my time working with you aboard the Enterprise I have never seen you display behaviour that indicated that you did not feel in control of the situation in engineering."

"I guess I just have to do my best to keep control of myself, even if I don’t feel in control of the situation, because if I don't we'll all die and that's not an option. I've been dealing with panic for a lot longer than you have Data. You'll just need some time to get used to it and understand it. Panic still gets the better of me sometimes, like when you get badly hurt and I'm scared I won't be able to fix you," Geordi moved the hand he had under Data's chin to cup his cheek, "I care about you Data, a whole damn lot, and I know panic isn't a nice thing to experience, but I'm more than willing to help you deal with it in whatever way I can."

"Can I hug you now, Geordi?"

"Sure thing, Data," Geordi smiled.

It was a little awkward while still on Geordi's biobed but they didn't mind much. Data rested his head on Geordi's shoulder and held him close. They had hugged several times before, a few of those times being after particularly stressful missions, but Data had never felt such a need to hold onto Geordi and not let go. Geordi gently petted Data's hair while he rubbed his hand up and down Data's back.

After a minute or two Geordi spoke, "Hey, Data?"

"Yes Geordi?"

"Do you want to tell me about how training Spot has been going?"

Data pulled back a little so that he could look at Geordi, "How is Spot's training relevant to the current situation?"

"It's not, Data. I just wanted to help you get your mind off of what happened today. Talking about everyday life stuff can help when something stressful happens. At least it helps me, not sure if Counsellor Troi would recommend it but I don't see why not."

The pale gold of Data's skin shimmered slightly under the sick bay lights, this was lost on Geordi, but the constant glowing aura around Data shone a little brighter.

"Ah. A distraction. I do not believe that I can be truly distracted but I would not mind talking to you about Spot."

Geordi smiled and shifted them a little so that they could be more comfortable, before settling in to listen to Data's inevitably lengthy explanation about his attempts to train his demon of a cat.

**Author's Note:**

> I might write more in the future since this was pretty fun to do but in the mean time I'll keep posting daforge art on my tumblr @drawsmaddy


End file.
